Pressurized dispensing systems, commonly referred to as aerosols, experienced first significant commercialization in the early 1950s resulting in a proliferation of products. Basically, however, most pressurized products have the following elements in common:
a. A container suitable to withstand the pressure of the system; PA1 b. A propellant of either the liquefied or compressed gas types; PA1 c. A valve means across which there is a pressure drop to ambient pressure and which directs the product in the form of a spray or foam to the target area.
Despite their high costs, aerosol products gained immediate consumer acceptance. The single most important factor behind this success story is the convience offered by these pressurized products.
Typically, aerosols are generated by atomization of the composition through a valve. The atomization pressure is generated by a propellant in either gaseous or liquefied form, typically, low molecular weight liquid halohydrocarbon or hydrocarbon propellants or gases under pressure such as nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide or nitrogen.
Recently, the aerosol market was thrown into a state of disarray as a result of the Rowland-Mollina ozone depletion theory which hypothesizes that a certain percentage of halohydrocarbon propellants find their way to the stratosphere causing a depletion of ozone in that stratum. With a depletion of the ozone in the stratosphere, a greater amount of ultraviolet radiation enters the atmosphere resulting in an increased incidence of skin cancer.
Packaging alternatives to halohydrocarbon propelled aerosols include: products propelled with liquefied hydrocarbon propellants (LPG) such as butane, isobutane and propane and mixtures thereof. Because of the flammability of the LPG gases a substantial amount of water is necessary in the formulation to provide a dousing effect. Aqueous phases emulsified in hydrocarbon propellants (water/oil) can yield fine space sprays and are currently used for room deodorants, insect sprays, and the like. Products propelled with compressed gas propellants such as nitrogen or the more soluble nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide are usually quite wet because their low solubilities and low concentrations (as compared with halohydrocarbon and hydrocarbon propellants) deprive the produce of breakup power. Combinations of liquefied and compressed gas propellants offer no synergistic advantage in terms of achieving a dry spray.
There are, also, the ever-present dangers of aerosols: flammability (in the case of hydrocarbon propelled products), explosion hazard, inhalation toxicity potential, inadvertent misuse of product, valve malfunction, etc.
Pump sprays are high cost, low efficiency substitutes for pressurized products. Hair fixatives and antiperspirant pump sprays are currently on the market as non-aerosol counterparts. Their acceptance, especially the antiperspirant pump spray, has been poor primarily because of the wetness of the application.
Other packaging forms including separative devices, elastomeric membranes with a memory, spring loaded devices, etc., are of little commercial value because of the inordinately high cost, the exotic nature of the hardware and the lack of basic improvement over existing lower cost systems.
In addition to spray application, an important means of applying products to substrates is by powder application. Such products include bath and body powders, make-up powders, foot powders, personal deodorant and antiperspirant powders, fragrance powders, tooth powders, pharmaceutical antiseptic antibiotic and steroid powders, athlete's foot powders, scouring powders, insecticide powders, etc. The major disadvantages of conventional powder products include dusting, lack of adhesion and limited formulation capability.
Hydrophobic metal oxides, particularly silane treated silicas, were developed about ten years ago. Hydrophobic metal oxides are not wetted by water. Currently, the hydrophobic metal oxides are used to prevent wetting by water such as in sands, soils and other granular materials or surface treatment of masonry, wood, cloth, paper, plastic and other surfaces. The hydrophobic metal oxides also find use as a free-flow anti-caking additive in powder fire extinguishers, polymers, metals, etc.; as a thickening and anti-settling agent with water-proofing characteristics in paints, adhesives, greases, inks and similar systems and as a polymeric reinforcing agent. In practice the hydrophobic metal oxides are finding use as colloidal surface active agents in high viscosity water-in-oil emulsions having exceptional phase stability for use in insecticides, creams and salves. Vigorous mixing of hydrophobic metal oxide and water results in a water-in-air emulsion or suspension in which fine droplets of water as a first phase are stabilized in air by an interfacial barrier of very fine hydrophobic metal oxide particles. U.S. Pat. No. 3,393,155, Col. 5, lines 2-3 discloses that aqueous solutions of substances such as glycerol can be used in the aqueous disperse phase for addition to pharmaceuticals or cosmetics. The only commercial use of water-in-air emulsions based on hydrophobic silica as a free flowing powder is as a fluffy bed for germination of hard-to-grow seedlings. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,710,510)
The hydrophobic metal oxides can be applied to surfaces by blending or dusting. Coating formulations can be formulated with resin binders in liquid state or dry state and these coatings have been applied by spraying, fludized bed or electrostatic coating techniques or by a containerized propellant. However, these applications do not involve liquid-in-air emulsions nor the use of such emulsions to deliver ingredients to a target as an aerosol.
Aerosols are formed by the dispersion of fine particles in air. However, antiperspirant sprays delivering fine particles having a diameter smaller than 10 microns are inhalable and should be reviewed for long term toxicity effects to assess the risk/benefit balance in allowing the public to use such products. Conversely, particles having diameters larger than 10 microns are removed in the nasal pharyingeal and laryngeal passages and do not entail significant risk in their use. The particles delivered from conventional propellant or pump spray packages decrease in size as they travel to a target to shift the particle size to an inhalable range.